Oh okay. Are there better track bars you'd recommend? Would I need a transfer case drop kit?
A recipe for an affordable but quality 2.5" lift
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
OP
You’ll likely need to drop the transfer case a bit, but you also may not. Every vehicle is different.
For track bars JKS is a good one.
OP
Okay. So what ive got is, 1" transfer case drop, Daystar .75 front spacers, Rancho RS5000 front and back shocks, Rancho steering stabalizer, OME front and back 2" heavy duty coil springs, .5" body lift and a rear track bar relocation bracket. Would I need anything else to make this setup work?
UKTJ
TJ Addict
The front spacers may be a bit chunky just for levelling purposes unless you have a lot of weight up front. Also, with less of a spacer you may well not need to drop the transfer case skid. You could go with a motor mount lift.
I just installed OME springs last week (heavy duty front, light duty rear) with no spacers. I have a 1” MML and when I took it out yesterday had no vibration as far as I could tell.
Also, I question the heavy duty rear springs. Based on free length and spring rate quoted elsewhere on the site they give very similar levels of lift, but the light duty ones provide greater free length.
I just installed OME springs last week (heavy duty front, light duty rear) with no spacers. I have a 1” MML and when I took it out yesterday had no vibration as far as I could tell.
Also, I question the heavy duty rear springs. Based on free length and spring rate quoted elsewhere on the site they give very similar levels of lift, but the light duty ones provide greater free length.
How much bump is needed for the matching rear shocks? Everyone says they run long, but you the first with real numbers 1.75”, perfect. Typically need that for 33’s anyways, so no loss. Just gotta be ok with stock-ish up travel or get longer springs.
I went with 2" of bump in the rear, but that was only because my Track bar was hitting the rear cross member in front of the fuel tank at full stuff.
cheechahumma
TJ Enthusiast
Hope I'm not too late, I'm looking at doing this with freedom off-road springs (reviews says they give a base lift of closer to 3") and rancho shocks. This is a great thread btw, thank you. My question is, does anyone have the part numbers for the hydraulic ranchos instead of the nitros? Going to be used mostly on road and if I understand correctly they ride much better.
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ConWall06
New Member
I'm a little confused.(I'm also way more of a noob than I thought at this). I had been reading your other post. Do you not need the control arms, drive shaft or adjustable track bars like in your other thread?
I have an LJR and I recently posted another thread about lifts and got schooled pretty heavily on it. I simply won't have the money to dump into a large lift and 35s for the unforseen future. I started looking into the smaller lifts but now I'm just confused. I have the savvy body lift 1.25", and the 1" MML.
Sorry if I'm being pestery. Here's the part of the post I was referring to:
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OP
Control arms are optional at those lift heights.
I am in the camp that I would do control arms regardless because the increased articulation and better joints you'll get from a high end control arm joint (Johnny Joint) are worth the cost in upgrade. In addition, if I'm lifting it at all, I want the ability to dial in my wheelbase and get things back to where they need to be geometry wise.
But for the person on a budget, you really do not need control arms at those lift heights and can do without them. Of course if you want to avoid the transfer case drop and improve ground clearance with a future tummy tuck, you're going to need those control arms.
If you're going for a small lift I'd keep that 1.25" body lift, add some 1" springs or so, and call it a day. Since you have the longer wheelbase TJ you won't need to worry about driveshafts or transfer case drops. That's a major advantage to the longer wheelbase.
Those recommendations are for the standard TJ. With your LJ, the longer driveshaft makes things a little easier. For a 2" to 2.5" lift, you can probably get by without the SYE and DC driveshaft and adjustable control arms. You should not need a transfer case drop.
If you later do a tummy tuck, even a partial one, you might need to add those things, since that will push the driveshaft to an even steeper angle.
Adjustable control arms (good ones with Johnny Joints) will give you better articulation. But the OEM control arms are fairly flexy (by design) and should be okay.
The adjustable track bars are nice to have, but not absolutely necessary. You can run the OEM track bars, with a little bit of axle offset, and put in adjustable ones when you win the lottery.
Nashvillwill
Member
I’ll weight in here as someone who followed this recipe for a lift and have a couple of years on it.
First off, my suspension was blown and I ended up gaining 3.5”-4” of lift. That was surprise #1.
The biggest learning lesson was to just spend the money on an adjustable rear track bar. Those track bar relocation brackets were a major hassle to get on. Without a lift anyways.
I don’t put much mileage on my TJ, less than 5k/year. But it’s a 1/3 mix of family neighborhood slow cruising, highway to the trail which is 60-100mi, moderately aggressive trail riding.
It is a decent ride, but it’s only exposed all the weaknesses in my SLOW build. Now I need control arms in a bad way. Now my tire size looks stupid small and I need new rubber anyway. If I do that I need a regear. I should probably do that SYE and driveshafts. I need to get armor and it needs to be aluminum (2.5l). I need to re-evaluate my gear setup. I need to fix that rear main seal. The list goes on.
It just fed the addiction, which I suppose is a good thing.
Ultimately, it certainly doesn’t feel like a “premium” lift or anything. But it’s good enough for now and money well spent.
First off, my suspension was blown and I ended up gaining 3.5”-4” of lift. That was surprise #1.
The biggest learning lesson was to just spend the money on an adjustable rear track bar. Those track bar relocation brackets were a major hassle to get on. Without a lift anyways.
I don’t put much mileage on my TJ, less than 5k/year. But it’s a 1/3 mix of family neighborhood slow cruising, highway to the trail which is 60-100mi, moderately aggressive trail riding.
It is a decent ride, but it’s only exposed all the weaknesses in my SLOW build. Now I need control arms in a bad way. Now my tire size looks stupid small and I need new rubber anyway. If I do that I need a regear. I should probably do that SYE and driveshafts. I need to get armor and it needs to be aluminum (2.5l). I need to re-evaluate my gear setup. I need to fix that rear main seal. The list goes on.
It just fed the addiction, which I suppose is a good thing.
Ultimately, it certainly doesn’t feel like a “premium” lift or anything. But it’s good enough for now and money well spent.
'05Train
TJ Enthusiast
Having just gone through this, here's my thoughts.
Have a long, serious, uninterrupted conversation with yourself about what your goals for your Jeep are, what your budget is, and what makes sense. In my case, I knew every piece of rubber in the suspension was shot. I knew the springs were sagging, and I knew the shocks were blown. And I also knew I needed new tires. On top of that, I don't care for body lifts, and/or MMLs, so those were off the table.
I decided on this lift with the Rancho shocks and BDS springs, bump stops, and spacers. Did control arms and end links/discos, as well as all new steering linkage and track bars. I banked on not having driveline vibes and needing either a TC drop (looks terrible) or SYE (expensive). Got a Black Friday deal on wheels and tires, and ended up with 33s.
Whelp.....I had driveline vibes galore with just the lift from the springs. Sh*t. Knowing that at some point I was going to end up with more lift, I did the SYE rather than the TC drop, figuring I'd be doing the SYE at some point. And I added the 3/4" spacers front and back, netting me a total of 5" of lift (to include going from 31s to 33s) from where it was.
OP doesn't need to worry about the SYE, but the rest of that stands. Figure out your goal, and build it. It's a lot cheaper and easier to do it once than it is to try to go cheap, then buy and replace parts more than once.
Have a long, serious, uninterrupted conversation with yourself about what your goals for your Jeep are, what your budget is, and what makes sense. In my case, I knew every piece of rubber in the suspension was shot. I knew the springs were sagging, and I knew the shocks were blown. And I also knew I needed new tires. On top of that, I don't care for body lifts, and/or MMLs, so those were off the table.
I decided on this lift with the Rancho shocks and BDS springs, bump stops, and spacers. Did control arms and end links/discos, as well as all new steering linkage and track bars. I banked on not having driveline vibes and needing either a TC drop (looks terrible) or SYE (expensive). Got a Black Friday deal on wheels and tires, and ended up with 33s.
Whelp.....I had driveline vibes galore with just the lift from the springs. Sh*t. Knowing that at some point I was going to end up with more lift, I did the SYE rather than the TC drop, figuring I'd be doing the SYE at some point. And I added the 3/4" spacers front and back, netting me a total of 5" of lift (to include going from 31s to 33s) from where it was.
OP doesn't need to worry about the SYE, but the rest of that stands. Figure out your goal, and build it. It's a lot cheaper and easier to do it once than it is to try to go cheap, then buy and replace parts more than once.
When you say you went with the SYE to eliminate the vibes, was it really just a SYE, or did it also include a DC rear driveshaft and adjustable control arms? You didn't mention those items, but it's my understanding that both of those are needed in addition to the SYE to dial in the pinion angle and eliminate those vibes.
That's what I had to do: SYE, arms, DC driveshaft and track bar relocation bracket.
'05Train
TJ Enthusiast
I'd already done the adjustable arms as the bushings in the stock arms were shot. I got a Tom Woods DC shaft as well as the SYE.
Trying to follow this recipe again, have most of the parts gathered, except for the:
Last year Rokmen had delisted the product, now rokmen.com is gone.
Is there a similar 0.5” TJ body lift product still on the market? Or does anyone have a used or spare set?
Cheers
Last year Rokmen had delisted the product, now rokmen.com is gone.
Is there a similar 0.5” TJ body lift product still on the market? Or does anyone have a used or spare set?
Cheers
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